China yesterday condemned Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a shrine that honours war criminals, calling it a move that "challenges international justice" and "tramples upon the conscience of mankind."

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing summoned the Japanese Ambassador, Miyamoto Yuji, to lodge a protest.

Li told the ambassador that Koizumi "obstinately visited the Yasukuni Shrine regardless of the concerns and objections from the international community, neighbouring Asian countries and the Japanese people.

"On behalf of the Chinese Government and people, I express strong indignation and severely condemn the visit."

The war criminals honoured in the Yasukuni Shrine hatched and directed Japanese militarists' aggression. They were the chief culprits responsible for the great calamity imposed on Asia and the world in modern history, Li said.

Koizumi's visit, the sixth since he took office in 2001, "has severely hurt the feelings of the people of the victim countries, and undermined the political foundation of China-Japan relations," Li said, noting that China is the biggest victim of Japanese militarists' aggression.

The visit has undermined Japan's image and interests, the foreign minister said.

"To correctly understand and address that part of history constituted the political basis for the resumption and development of China-Japan relations after the war, and is the important precondition for the two countries to face up to the future," Li said.

The press were invited to witness Li's protest to Miyamoto, a tense encounter that began without the two men shaking each other's hands.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry also issued a statement to strongly protest Koizumi's move.

Koizumi went to the shrine early yesterday morning, his first visit on August 15 the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender fulfilling his five-year-old promise to do so during his term.

The pilgrimage was also the first by a Japanese prime minister on the August 15 anniversary since Yasuhiro Nakasone paid his respects there on the sensitive date in 1985.

Both Beijing and Seoul have suspended top-level contacts with Tokyo over Koizumi's previous trips to the shrine.

Koizumi is due to step down as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as well as prime minister next month.

Despite sharp criticism of Koizumi, China expressed its hope for developing friendly relations with Japan.

The Foreign Ministry statement said maintaining sound Sino-Japanese relations is in the fundamental interests of the Chinese and Japanese peoples and conducive to peace and stability in Asia and the world at large.

"We believe that people of insight from all walks of life in Japan will follow the historical tide and make efforts to remove the political barriers so as to push Sino-Japanese ties back to the normal track at an early date," it said.

Source: China Daily/Xinhua